McAllen, Texas

Everything McAllen is known for

6 songs mention this city 3 artists from here

Music in McAllen

Songs About McAllen

Dope House Family
SPM
50%
Rio Grande
Austin Meade & Treaty Oak Revival
50%
"Made it to McAllen in record time"
heard it all before
bob wayne
22%
Los Tequileros
Los Pingüinos del Norte
12%
"TITLE"
leavin' texas
jerry jeff walker
10%
Stay On Your Grind
South Park Mexican
6%
"700 pounds coming straight from McAllen"

Artists From McAllen

G
Grupo Frontera
latin
L
Leo Alejandro Garcia
country
D
Dandy Heat
indie

Rivers & Roads in Song near McAllen

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near McAllen.

Rio Grande / Río Bravo 163 songs Rio Grande / Río Bravo 250 songs

Musical Heritage

Grupo Frontera RoadyGoat

Two years. That's about how long it took Grupo Frontera to go from a local Edinburg act to trading songs with Bad Bunny. This six-piece formed right here in Edinburg back in 2022, taking the old norteno cumbia — the melodies and themes their grandparents danced to — and giving it a modern shine. And the world came calling fast: Bad Bunny, Shakira, Maluma, all in the mix. Down here they're already part of the furniture, their music rolling out over the speakers at the MXLAN festival up in McAllen. Some call them a viral sensation, and maybe that's the easy word for it. But viral fades. What Grupo Frontera did was take a Rio Grande Valley sound and carry it onto the biggest stages there are.

RoadyGoat →

Edgar Barrera RoadyGoat

You've heard Edgar Barrera's work even if you've never heard his name — the McAllen kid grew up to write and produce for Madonna, Shakira, Maluma, Selena Gomez, a shelf full of Grammys. But here's my favorite thing he did. His brother-in-law was opening a tire shop down in the Valley and hired a local band to play the grand opening — a group called Grupo Frontera. Barrera heard them, answered the singer's messages, and the two of them finally sat down together at a McAllen Starbucks. From a tire-shop parking lot to the top of the global Latin charts. He runs his own Sony label now, called BorderKid — which tells you exactly where he's from and exactly what he's proud of.

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Hillbilly's honky-tonk RoadyGoat

1988

Up in north McAllen, deep in the Rio Grande Valley, there's a small building with red-and-black trim called Hillbilly's — "Hills," if you're a regular. Two brothers, Reynaldo and Enrique Martinez, opened it back in nineteen eighty-eight, when there was little out there but railroad tracks and empty fields. Thirty-five years later it's still going, Wednesday through Saturday, eight at night till two in the morning. Inside you've got two dance floors, billiards, a bar, and a little grocery called the Lone Star Market running right there inside the honky-tonk. By the door hangs a line of photos — country acts who've played the room, Toby Keith among them, hung next to the local Valley musicians. James Ferguson's been tending that bar for twenty years. And the regulars? They've got their own name cards sitting out on the tables.

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La Lomita Park RoadyGoat

2000

In North McAllen, a man named Jose "Pepe" Maldonado had a recording studio called El Rancho Sound. Then he shut it down for about ten years. When he came back, he turned the place into something else — La Lomita Park, built to look like a set out of an old Western movie. Every Sunday the doors open on classic Texas conjunto, ten dollars at the door. The first Sunday, about five people showed. Now it's closer to two hundred, with the shows streaming live on Facebook, and folks turning up from as far as Chicago and Miami. Roel and Selina Alvarado drive over from San Juan and have danced there almost every week for ten years running. That's what a dance floor is for.

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MXLAN festival RoadyGoat

2019

Down in McAllen, the city throws a party every year and calls it MXLAN — three days of the Valley's Latino culture turned all the way up. It started in 2019, built to knit the Valley and Mexico a little closer together. You get a walking parade, mezcal tastings, folklorico dancers, a Lucha Libre card with the masks and the flying, and a food spread called Sabor de Mexico with vendors from all over the area. The main stage runs local Valley musicians — the year Grupo Frontera spun through, the DJ sets carried it. And the whole thing runs on one line, stitched right into the banner: These are our roots. We are the flowers.

RoadyGoat →

History of McAllen

McAllen, TX RoadyGoat

McAllen was founded in 1904 when the Hidalgo and San Miguel Extension of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway reached the Santa Anita Ranch. John McAllen and his son James had donated land to the railroad, which led to the formation of the McAllen Townsite Company by Uriah Lott, Leonidas C. Hill Sr., John McAllen, James Ballí McAllen, and John J. Young. The new community was named for John McAllen and had the depot nearest the county seat, Hidalgo, 8 miles to the south.

McAllen, TX RoadyGoat

The Rio Grande Valley has always been a crossroads, but the influx of asylum seekers in recent years has really put McAllen in the national spotlight. The city, sitting just north of the border, became a focal point as thousands arrived, often with nothing, seeking refuge. It's been a complex situation, to say the least. You saw the best and worst of humanity. While the federal government struggled to respond, local organizations like the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley stepped up in a massive way, providing everything from basic necessities to legal aid. The sheer scale of the need tested the community's resources and compassion, but you also saw neighbors helping neighbors, churches opening their doors, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things. It forced a lot of conversations, not just here but across the country, about immigration policy, humanitarian aid, and what it really means to be a border town. The ebony trees along the resacas have silently witnessed a lot of history, but this recent chapter has been particularly intense and transformative for McAllen.

One Branch Made Every Ruby Red RoadyGoat

Every red grapefruit you've ever had traces back to one tree limb in a McAllen grove. In 1929, a grower named A.E. Henninger noticed a single branch on an ordinary pink grapefruit tree producing fruit with flesh far redder than the rest of the tree — a spontaneous mutation on one limb, not a bred variety. He propagated cuttings from that limb, and in 1934 it became the first citrus variety in history to receive a U.S. plant patent. The color comes down to chemistry: grapefruit flesh gets its color from a pigment called lycopene, which in a normal grapefruit gets converted into other compounds as the fruit ripens. Whatever changed in that one mutated limb slowed or blocked that conversion, so the lycopene just stays put and stays visible. Every Ruby Red grapefruit sold today is a cutting, or a cutting of a cutting, from that same original branch.

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Paris Gum Factory

1942

During WWII, because of rationing, Andrew J. Paris (1919-1997) and his family had no sweets to sell in their Detroit, MI. tobacconist shop. In 1942, in Mexico City, Paris found an ample supply of candies and chewing gum to save his family's store. In 1945, he established an import business in McAllen bringing in gum from Mexico. In 1946, he converted Mexican chewing gum factories to bubble gum production and cornered the latex market. In Feb. 1947, LIFE magazine dubbed him the "Bubble Gum King." On Oct. 1, 1947, the Paris Gum Factory opened in McAllen, employing fifty Hispanic women in the air-conditioned building, with sales worldwide. The Art-Deco factory designed by Lucile Hendricks of McAllen closed in 1955. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2012

Historical Marker →

Casso, Ramiro Raúl

1948

Ramiro Raúl Casso, an educator, physician, civil rights and community activist from the Rio Grande Valley, was born in the Buenos Aires colonia of Laredo, Texas, on August 4, 1922, to Francisco Margarito Casso and Josefa (Villarreal) Casso. Both of his parents had immigrated as children from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, to Texas and arrived with their families before the start of the Mexican Revolution . At the time of Casso's birth, his father worked as a chauffeur, and his mother was a housekeeper. He was the second of four brothers. Throughout his childhood, he and his family moved back and forth from Laredo to Duval County, Texas, for work during the hard economic times of the Great Depression . When he was thirteen years old, he and his brothers lived in a tent in Freer, Texas, and worked as garbage collectors to help provide for the family. They saw their parents in Laredo on weekends. At fourteen years old, he sold newspapers on street corners. Upon Casso's graduation from Martin High School in Laredo in 1939, he attended Texas A&M University. After the United States entered World War II in late 1941, the university became a military training camp and had classes year-round so students could graduate before enlisting. As a student, Casso trained and served as a sergeant in Texas A&M's Coast Artillery Battery B. In 1943 he received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering then joined the United States Army Reserve. He went to Anti-Aircraft Artillery Officers Candidate School at Camp Davis in North Carolina, then in 1944 he served as a lieutenant in anti-aircraft artillery at the Panama Canal. Casso was honorably discharged, with the rank of captain, in 1946 and returned to Laredo where he worked as an engineer for the International Boundary and Water Commission . He also taught math at his alma mater, Martin High School. In 1949 Casso married Emma Laurel, a school teacher from Laredo, at the First Baptist Church of Laredo. The next year, after they had their first child, they moved to Waco where he attended Baylor University as a pre-med major and graduated in 1952 with a bachelor of science degree in chemistry. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in 1956 then completed a year-long internship at the Robert B. Green Memorial Hospital of San Antonio. In 1957 he returned to the Rio Grande Valley and opened his family medical practice in McAllen. Two years later, he joined Dr. Lauro G. Guerra to open McAllen Polyclinic, often referred to as the Farm Workers Clinic (later the Hidalgo County Health Department Migrant Medical Clinic) to provide healthcare for poorer communities such as migrant farmworker families. In addition to playing an important role as a physician and educator for the Mexican American community, he got involved in politics and civil rights activism. In 1948, after he was discharged from military service, he joined other Mexican American veterans, including American GI Forum 's Hector P. García and attorneys Carlos Cadena and Gus García , to combat discriminatory practices in Texas. In 1948 he, as a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), helped with negotiations with the state during the Delgado v. Bastrop Independent School District case that resulted in a court decision against the segregation of Mexican American children. In addition he helped raise money for Cadena's and Gus García's legal fees as they prepared to argue Pete Hernandez v. Texas , a case that fought against systematic exclusion of Mexican Americans from jury duty, in front of the U. S. Supreme Court in 1954. Casso often took a public role in politics and focused on issues of education, poverty, and health. In 1958 he was a founding member and an original board member of the McAllen United Civic Association, a Mexican American group that advocated community improvements from local government. The next year he was elected to the McAllen School Board

Tsha Handbook →

Garcia, Esteban

1931

Esteban Garcia, South Texas rancher and cattle breeder, was born on December 2, 1896, in Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, the eldest of thirteen children of Amancio Garcia and Braulia de la Garza. The Garcia family had received an original land grant from the King of Spain in 1740. The sizable grant at one time included more than a quarter million acres on both sides of the Rio Grande. In 1827 Garcia's grandfather, Eligio Garcia, took over the active ranch management in a large portion of the area that is now Starr and Brooks counties. Esteban Garcia had little formal education, as he quit school in the sixth grade when his father became very ill. In 1913, when Esteban was seventeen, his father moved the family to the Artecitas Ranch on the banks of the Rio Grande. (The Artecitas Ranch was part of the original land holdings located near what is now La Grulla in Starr County.) Esteban Garcia married Maria Salome Izaguirre (also of Camargo, Mexico) in 1920; they had six children. At his father's death in 1923, Esteban took over management of the ranch. He actively supported the movement against Gen. Venustiano Carranza and helped provide munitions, weapons, and food to the anti-Carranzistas. Over the years Garcia lost a large amount of land to back taxes and debts inherited from his father; he not only worked Tacubaya, the family ranch in Brooks County, but also worked as a hired hand for other ranchers to support his family. With his love for ranching and his work ethic, he gained the respect and support of a number of influential Anglo ranchers. In 1931 Richard Kleberg from the King Ranch asked Garcia for his support in his bid for Congress. At that time in Brooks County, part of the district Kleberg would represent, Mexican Americans were not allowed to dance in public. Garcia agreed to support Kleberg and suggested that if the Brooks County situation changed, it would make his job of gathering support for him easier. On election day Mexican Americans in Brooks County celebrated Kleberg's victory by dancing in the streets. In the early 1930s vast amounts of natural gas and oil were discovered in South Texas. Standard Oil of Texas (now Exxon Corporation; see EXXON COMPANY, U.S.A. ) approached Garcia to lease his land for exploration. By this time Garcia had become the largest Hispanic rancher in South Texas and was looked upon as the spokesman for many smaller ranch operations. When Standard Oil came to him with their offer, he refused to sign any agreement that would not include a royalty payment system. Standard offered to increase the bonus money, but Garcia refused and further indicated that unless they came to an understanding, Standard Oil would not be signing any of the smaller ranchers in the area, either. With his influence, area ranchers held together and eventually gained not only the signing bonus but also fixed royalties on any producing well on their property. In 1935 Garcia moved his family from Tacubaya to McAllen because he wanted his children to receive a good education. In McAllen his eldest daughter, Alicia, and later his son, Esteban, Jr., were denied admittance into the public swimming pool because of their race. Garcia called several influential Anglo friends and politicians, demanding an explanation. He even suggested a commercial boycott by Mexican Americans if something was not done. Within weeks after his confrontation, the McAllen pool was desegregated. In 1932 Esteban, in partnership with his brother Eligio, had begun acquiring domestic and Mexican Brahman cattle , and by 1940 their herd was considered superior in the United States. In 1946 Esteban and Eligio obtained thirteen Zebu, or Bos indicus , Brahman cattle from Brazil; these were eventually recognized by the American Brahman Breeders Association and became a registered breed. As a consequence of his difficulty in registering the new breed, Garcia helped found the Pan American Zebu Association (now the International Zebu Breeders Association), w

Tsha Handbook →

Ortiz, Tomás

1953

Tomás Ortiz, a member of the música norteño duet Los Alegres de Terán, was born on June 2, 1924, on the San Rafael Ranch near General Terán, Nuevo León, Mexico. Drawn to music as a youngster, Ortiz was playing the bajo sexto and singing in the ranchera style by his teenage years. Partnering with accordionist Eugenio Abrego, Ortiz performed in General Terán. By 1947 Los Alegres de Terán performed on XET Radio in Monterrey. They also began to gain a reputation as musicians in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The duet then came to the attention of Arnaldo Ramírez who had recently founded the Discos Falcon recording label in McAllen, Texas, on the Texas-Mexico border. With their 1953 hit recording of the ranchera “Carta jugada” (“Playing Letter”) for the Falcon label, Ortiz’s career as a member of Los Alegres de Terán was launched. The discovery of the duet by the talent scout Felipe Valdez led the Columbia de Mexico recording company to sign Ortiz and Abrego to a recording contract. This opportunity ultimately brought them international acclaim. With Abrego, Ortiz successfully took the norteño sound to such diverse places as Japan, Iraq, Spain, and Africa. In 1983 the duet Los Alegres de Terán was inducted into the Conjunto Music Hall of Fame. Among the hit albums that Ortiz and Abrego recorded were Los Ojos de Pancha (Pancha’s Eyes) and Más y Más Corridos (More and More Corridos). During a long career, Ortiz issued more than one hundred albums and appeared in several movies as part of Los Alegres de Terán. Other hit songs included “Alma Enamorada” (“A Soul in Love”) and “Entre Copa y Copa” (“Between Cup and Cup”). Despite his great success as a Columbia recording artist, Ortiz continued his association with Falcon Records, writing songs and serving as its artistic director and talent scout. In 2004 Arhoolie Records released the CD Los Alegres De Terán, Grabaciones Originales: 1952–1954 , thereby introducing these early superstars of norteño music to new generations of listeners. Tomás Ortiz died on November 13, 2007, in Edinburg, Texas. A funeral service for him was held on November 16, 2007.

Tsha Handbook →

Tom Mayfield

1898

(June 16, 1880 - November 26, 1966) Tom Mayfield left the Gonzales County farm of his parents, John and Maggie Mayfield, in 1898 to help buy horses for Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Between 1910-1921 Tom served as Pharr city marshal, Texas Ranger, and Hidalgo County deputy sheriff. His role in exposing a German-Mexican WWI plot in nearby San Diego and his amazing escape from a Mexican firing squad in 1921 made Tom a local celebrity. As Pharr-San Juan-Alamo's deputy constable (1938-1963) Tom gained the community's highest respect. He spent his last years as a resident of the San Juan Hotel. (1993)

Historical Marker → · 4.6 mi away

John H. Shary Home

1917

Built 1917 by Father of the Texas citrus industry, pioneer developer of Rio Grande Valley, and the Intercoastal Canal. For 20 years chairman Sharyland School Board. Here in 1953, Mrs. Shary, her daughter, Mrs. Allen Shivers, and Governor Shivers entertained President Dwight D. Eisenhower during Falcon Dam dedication. Shivers, 1949-1957 Governor, was chief executive longer than any other; headed one of state's most progressive administrations. A major event of his regime was the restoration of the tidelands to Texas. (1964)

Historical Marker → · 5.0 mi away

Things to Do in McAllen

spooky
La Lechuza

In the Rio Grande Valley a giant owl-witch called La Lechuza hunts at night. She is said to be the ghost of a mother whose children were killed by a drunk…
quirky 7.0 mi away
World's Largest Killer Bee

A 2000-pound steel-and-fiberglass killer bee statue stands outside Hidalgo City Hall. It commemorates the first U.S. arrival of Africanized honey bees near the…
historical 15.1 mi away
Weslaco, Texas (c. 1939, Russell Lee)

Everything Near McAllen

353 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Explore McAllen on the Map
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